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Politics

Jennings gets dealt 2 setbacks

By JONI JAMES
Published December 30, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Congressional hopeful Christine Jennings' drive for a new election in Southwest Florida suffered two blows Friday when Congress announced it would seat her opponent and a state judge denied her request to inspect vote-counting software in Sarasota County.

But Jennings, a Democrat who has fought relentlessly since official results showed her losing by just 369 votes to Republican Vern Buchanan in last month's election, was unfazed.

She pledged to appeal the judge's ruling and said she supported the seating of Buchanan "temporarily," in part because congressional leaders promised to remove him if she prevails in her call for new election.

"It is important to protect the voters, and this step will ensure they are not left without a voice in Congress," Jennings said.

At issue is the extraordinary number of voters in Sarasota County - 18,400 - who did not record a vote in the highly contested race to replace U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Sarasota, though they did vote for other races, such as Florida governor.

Jennings and her allies, including a group of voters who have joined her lawsuit, have argued that the undervotes, as they are called, represent a malfunction by the electronic voting machines used by Sarasota County, the iVotronic machine by Election Systems & Software.

In a motion seeking evidence for their case, they sought access to the so-called source code of the machines.

But ES&S, along with state elections officials, challenged that request, contending the source code amounted to a proprietary trade secret protected under state law. They have argued that the undervote was attributable to a poorly designed ballot that put two races on a single screen of the voting machines.

And they've cited an audit conducted by state elections officials that found the machines used in the election working properly.

In a short, three-page order, Leon Circuit Court Judge William Gary rejected the arguments of Jennings' legal team, saying its experts used "nothing more than conjecture ... not supported by credible evidence" to back their request.

"This validates what we have said all along," said Hayden Dempsey, an attorney representing Buchanan.

Jennings said the judge disregarded not only expert testimony, but also hundreds of affidavits from Sarasota County voters testifying to machine failure during early voting and on Election Day.

"It's shocking that there is more concern for protecting a company's profits rather than protecting our right to vote," Jennings said. "The secrecy and question marks surrounding electronic voting is creating a real crisis in confidence among America's voters, and the only way to resolve this is by conducting a thorough review by outside experts."

The judge's ruling came just hours after another, psychological blow to Jennings' campaign.

U.S. House Democratic leaders announced they would allow Buchanan to take the District 13 seat Thursday when the 110th Congress convenes. However, the leaders said they reserve the right to remove him if Jennings prevails in her lawsuit or if a House investigation finds the election results invalid.

"The House has the power to collect evidence and make a decision about who, if anyone, was duly elected to represent the people of the 13th District," said Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., during a news conference in Washington.

Holt plans an official statement next week making it clear that by seating Buchanan, the House isn't forfeiting the right to reverse that decision later. "No one who is in a disputed election like this should get too comfortable in the House of Representatives," he said.

Drew Hammill, spokesman for incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the judge's ruling Friday did not change the House's plans to investigate the election.

[Last modified December 30, 2006, 01:03:16]